My Review Of Art Gamblin Motors:
The vehicle was NOT a Chevrolet, but a SAAB (not available in the pulldown menu). It was a 9-7X Aero, which was built on the GMT360 platform shared by the Trailblazer, and fortunately is equivalent to the "SS" package which includes the 6.0 litre LS2 V8, All Wheel Drive, heavy duty trans, ugraded brakes and cooling, and steering/suspension tuned on the Nurburgring racetrack. My wife and I at the time had a GMC Envoy, essentially the same as a fancier Trailblazer, but I had my eye on the Trailblazer SS. After reading a bit online found out the SAAB 9-7X Aero existed and instantly looked (I think it was vehix.com at the time) to see if there were any in the area. There was only 1 listed as available in the entire state of WA, and at a price around HALF of the $52k MSRP it had new in 2008 (loaded up with all the options) I knew I had to make a move even though we had NO plans to get rid of the Envoy. This was early 2010, so I felt this was the deal of a lifetime and instantly got in contact with Art Gamblin to say "I will be there first thing Saturday morning!" and also mentioned I had a 2008 GMC Envoy SLT that I would like to trade. I spent the night reading reviews and looking at pictures of the car and fell in love. I had NEVER seen (or at least not noticed) seeing one of these on the road, while Trailblazers and Envoys are EVERYWHERE. Even the mighty SS was a normal sighting. This was going to be my wife's daily driver, and I just knew she would think it was a great upgrade, even if it was very similar to the Envoy (which was a good thing). When we pulled up on the Art Gamblin lot bright and early that Saturday morning, there was the SAAB sitting front and center. We were instantly greeted by a friendly Bryce Bartoy and told him we were the ones so excited about that graphite black SUV sitting right over there. I handed over the keys of our GMC so the service department could look it over to give us a trade in price. He grabbed the keys to the SAAB and jumped in the back so I could drive and my wife could ride shotgun. I think Bryce knew this was something special as he said "Listen to that rumble." after I fired up the engine. Sure enough it was the 400 horse Chevy V8 under the hood and instantly could tell the difference between it and what I had just driven 75+ miles and nearly 2 hours from Lake Stevens WA in (the Envoy). It put a smile on my face, so I pulled over and switched with my wife. She loved it too, and all the while Bryce was not only giving us information about the vehicle, but we were making great small talk which lead to chatting about the fishing season as I had just been down in that area the weekend before. He was an outdoorsman, so I instantly felt like we had a great repore. We thought he was very relatable and so friendly, but not overly so as you might get with some other salespeople. He was a younger guy and we were glad he worked with us (my wife and I were 30 at the time). After we returned to the dealership, we went into the office to do the business. I had only purchased a car from a different dealership once before, and while it wasnt a BAD experience, it wasn't something I was looking forward to. Art Gamblin changed my mind about that! They made things so easy for us and didn't haggle at all. I got exactly the trade in on the Envoy I had asked for (it was in nice shape) and was happy to pay the price for the Saab that was listed (it seemed like an absolute steal to me, so why push it?) All the time during the financing, paper signing, and other steps, Bryce would check in and ask how we were doing with a smile. It made the experience great, and I would have given the entire team "6's" across the board if I could. We were there for less than 1.5 hours from the time we pulled up with the GMC to the time we were driving away with the SAAB. The team checked in with us over the next few months to make sure things were going well, and Bryce has been following up at least a few times per year to check with us and offer us birthday/anniversary specials at the dealership and other offerings like driving type classes and emergency situation classes. If we weren't so far away, we would certainly take him up on the offers. And I must apologize for not submitting a review sooner, but I wanted to share my experience. We still love the SAAB and don't plan to get rid of it any time soon. It still goes, turns, and stops like a dream and puts a smile on our faces when we drive it. Thanks again Bryce Bartoy and Art Gamblin motors team, you guys ROCK!
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes | No
Thank you